Baby Houseman's Perspective on Vivian Pressman

During the preparation of the talent show, Baby Houseman watches Vivian Pressman talking quietly with Johnny Castle.  As Vivian walks away from Johnny, he looks back toward Baby, who pretends that she had not been watching Vivian and Johnny.

Then Johnny follows Vivian to a table where she is standing by her husband, Moe Pressman, who is playing cards with some other men. Johnny talks briefly with Moe and then walks further away.

Moe offering Johnny money to give Vivian a dance lesson

Baby has not been able to hear Johnny's conversations with Vivian or Moe. However, she is able to see that Moe gives some money to Johnny but then takes it back. As she watches Johnny walk away further from the card table, she sighs and smiles with apparent relief.

Although Baby cannot not hear the conversations, she understands, from what she saw, that Vivian wanted to arrange a paid dance lesson but that Johnny declined the offer.

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That scene takes place on Saturday, August 31. Baby had become sexual with Johnny in his cabin on the night of Thursday-Friday and had returned to his bed in his cabin on the afternoon of Friday.

Early on Saturday, Baby and Johnny do their "Love Is Strange" dance. Then Neil Kellerman enters the room and upsets Johnny's dance plan for the talent show.

While walking outside, Baby and Johnny talk. He says that if he loses his job at Kellerman's resort, he might have to become a house painter.

In my last essay, titled  Good news -- Uncle Paul can finally get you in the union, I argued that this conversation about Johnny possibly becoming a house painter causes Baby to realize that her relationship with Johnny must end after her family departs from the resort. She does not, however, tell Johnny about her realization.

Johnny wants the resolution to continue, and so he gets mad because Baby will not introduce him as her boyfriend to her father. Johnny walks away angrily.

Baby finds Johnny at Penny Johnson's cabin and apologizes to him. Robbie Gould walks by and remarks that Baby is "slumming" in her relationship with Johnny.

Later on Saturday, Baby, Johnny and others are preparing for the talent show. Baby watches Johnny talk with Vivian and then with Moe and then walk further away.

The preparations for the talent show continue. Johnny has just given Moe a pirate hat and told him to get ready to rehearse his pirate act.

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At this point in the story, during the preparations for the talent show, Baby feels relieved because Johnny will not spend time later giving Vivian a dance lesson. Rather, Johnny will spend maximum time with Baby alone. Johnny and Baby will spend the entire night together in his cabin.

During the preparations for the talent show, Baby saw Johnny talking with Vivian, but Baby could not hear that Vivian said to Johnny:

This is our last night together, lover. I've got something worked out for us.

Did Baby recognize and care that Vivian was Johnny's lover?

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A week earlier, Baby had heard Max Kellerman describe Vivian as a "bungalow bunny".

Max Kellerman telling the Housemans
that Vivian Pressman is a "bungalow bunny"

While Max was talking, Johnny and Vivian were dancing. At first she is wearing a white fur wrap, but she drops it onto the dance floor as she continues to dance.

Johnny dancing with Vivian, the "bungalow bunny".
She has just dropped a white fur wrap onto the dance floor.

The fur wrap and the dialogue indicate that she is wealthy and pays Johnny for dance lessons:

Vivian Pressman
Hi, Max. Aren't my dance lessons starting to pay off?

Max Kellerman
(Addressing Vivian)
You look great, Vivian! Terrific!

(Addressing Jake and Marjorie)
That's Vivian Pressman, one of the bungalow bunnies. That's what we call the women who stay here all week long. The husbands only come up on weekends. Moe Pressman's a big card player. He'll join our game.

(Addressing Vivian)
Moe coming up on Friday?

Vivian Pressman
Friday.

Max Kellerman
(Addressing Vivian)
He's away a lot. I know. It's a hardship.

The remarks about Moe's long absences suggest that Vivian is available for sexual adventures while she stays in the area.

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On one occasion when Johnny and Baby are in bed together, he tells her that wealthy women at the hotel entice him with valuable gifts and sexual pleasures.

... women are throwing themselves at you and they smell so good. They really take care of themselves. I never knew women could be like that.

They're so goddamn rich, you think they must know about everything. They're slipping their room keys in my hand two and three times a day -- different women --

.... They were using me.

Baby certainly assumed that Vivian was one such woman.

During the preparations for the talent show, Baby saw Vivian approach Johnny and talk quietly with him. Then Baby saw Moe offer Johnny money and assumed that Moe was offering to pay Johnny to give Vivian a dance lesson.

Baby might have assumed also that Vivian intended to use the dance lesson as a means to get into a sexual encounter with Johnny. Baby herself wanted intended to get into a sexual encounter with Johnny that very same night.

Keep in mind, though, that Baby intended (in my opinion) to end her relationship with Johnny. In that regard, Baby might have felt no resentment about Johnny's continuing relationship with Vivian. It was only during this Saturday-Sunday night that Baby wanted Johnny exclusively for herself.

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Since Vivian did not get to spend time with Johnny during that Saturday-Sunday night, she got into a sexual encounter with Robbie. This encounter was discovered by Baby's sister Lisa.

Since Lisa previously had confided to Baby that she herself intended "to go all the way" with Robbie during that Saturday-Sunday night, Lisa surely told Baby on Sunday that she had found Robbie in bed with Vivian during that night.

When Baby heard this news about Vivian from Lisa, Baby might have figured that Vivian was not Johnny's lover, but rather Robbie's lover. If Baby figured so, then she no longer considered Vivian to be her rival for Johnny's time and affection.

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 After Baby and Johnny do their dance performance at the talent show, everyone joins in the dancing -- except for Vivian. At 4:15 in the following video clip, Vivian walks alone and angrily out of the room.

Exactly why is Vivian angry? Surely Vivian knows that Johnny has many other lovers besides herself. Perhaps Vivian is angry only because she had planned to enjoy a sexual encounter with Johnny after the talent show, but now she sees that he has been captivated by Baby.

If Baby happened to see Vivian's departure from the room, she perhaps did not perceived any relationship to herself. Baby might have assumed mistakenly that Vivian simply was sneaking out to meet with her lover Robbie.

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In general, Baby never was concerned much about Vivian. Baby probably assumed that Vivian was one of the wealthy women who slipped her room key into Johnny's hand, but Baby did not know that for sure.

Baby did know that Vivian was married to Moe, who was spending this weekend at the resort and was even participating in the talent show. If Baby gave any thought at all to the possibility that Vivian might cheat on her husband later that evening, after the talent show, then Baby would assume that Vivian intended to cheat with Robbie, not with Johnny.

Anyway, Baby does not intend to continue her relationship with Johnny seriously after her family departs from the resort in a few hours. Perhaps Baby hopes that Johnny ultimately will get together with Penny.

Baby is much less concerned about Vivian interfering with Johnny than the movie audience is concerned about Vivian. interfering with Johnny. The movie audience knows somewhat more about Vivian than Baby knows.